Safety razor receptacle



J. MUROS SAFETY RAZOR RECEPTACLES July 7, 1942.

2 She'ts-Shet 1 Filed Jan. 18, 1941 mY N. NN MN w wh@ July 7,A 1942. J.MLJRos SAFETY RAZOR RECEPTACLES I Filed Jan. 18, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Eff'- 5 27 "a2 22 2e 29 24 25 5/ l m W W M YQ 27 .a2 2a 22 22 e 24 25INVENTOR. BY fm2 2M.

Patented July 7, 1942 SAFETY RAZOR RECEPTACLE Joseph Muros, Cambridge,Mass., assigner to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass., a

corporation of Delaware Application January 18, 1941, Serial No. 375,049

2 Claims.

The present invention consists in a new and improved receptacle forsafety razors, so constructed and arranged as to provide an enclosurefor the safety razor and at the same time a sharpening or stroppingdevice for a blade in the safety razor.

It is a domestic problem to provide a neat Vand attractive receptaclewhere a stropping device and a safety razor may be safely maintained inthe home at all times conveniently accessible to the user, where therazor will be fully protected from dust, from rusting and from damage tothe keen edge of its blade. Injury to safety razors by falling upon thetile floors is the cause of thousands of damaged safety razors beingreturned each year to manufacturers. The danger of accidental cuttingfrom a carelessly placed safety razor is also serious.

The object of the present invention is to meet all these difficulties byproviding a receptacle for safety razors constructed and arranged toprovide a complete enclosure and eicient guard against the dangers abovediscussed. To this end, the receptacle of my invention is characterizedby means for holding a safety razor securely in stationary positiontherein, together with blade stropping means which are brought intooperative relation with the blade of the razor when the receptacle isclosed and provided with external operating means whereby the blade maybe stropped in the enclosed safety razor.

As herein shown the receptacle comprises a bottom portion having meansfor supporting a safety razor with its blade holder and blade in anextended position and having also mounted therein one of a pair ofco-operating stropping rolls. With this is combined a cover portionarranged to be secured in closed position and which has means forholding down the razor and in this portion of the receptacle is mountedthe other member of the pair of stropping rolls. One or both of theserolls may be provided with operating means extending outside thereceptacle. Accordingly when the user has completed shaving he has onlyto place his razor in the receptacle of my invention, close the coverand then, by giving a few turns to the stropping rolls, the shaving edgeof the blade may be cleaned and stropped preparatory to subsequent use.The razor is thereafter maintained and safeguarded in this condition ofreadiness as long as the receptacle remains closed-for a day or month asthe case may be.

As herein shown the receptacle of my invention is designed particularlyto receive a safety 55 razor having a pivotally mounted blade holder orcarrier that may be swung into extended position when desired, that isto say, it may be swung so that the blade edge is located substantiallyoutside or above the razor head. Accordingly, the lower stropping rollis located in the lower enclosure member beneath the blade edge. Whenthe cover is removed there is complete clearance so that the razor maybe freely removed or replaced. The cover, however, contains the upperstropping roll of the pair and this is located, when the cover isclosed, in position above the blade edge. The organization of thestropping rolls may be such that they operate simultaneously on bothsides of the blade edge but, as herein shown and in accordance with anoptional feature of my invention, means are provided for pressing theblade edge alternately against one roll and then the other, Onesatisfactory mechanism for effecting this function comprises a camorcams on the lower roll shaft arranged to lift the blade against theupper roll during a portion of the cycle and to permit it to be movedinto engagement with the lower roll during another portion of the cycle.This insures a more advantageous stropping contact between the bladeedge and one roll at a time than it is practical to secure when thesimultaneous action of the rolls depends upon accurately adjusting theblade with both sides of its edge in the bite of the rolls.

These and other features of my invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Fig. l is a plan view of the receptacleshowing a safety razor in place therein and with the cover raised;

Fig. 2 is a view of the closed receptacle in longitudinal section;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view corresponding to Fig. 2 but showing theblade edge in contact with the upper stropping roll;

Fig. 4 is a corresponding view showing the blade edge in contact withthe lower stropping roll; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the lower stropping roll with itsoperating crank.

The receptacle of my invention is not limited to any specific type'ofsafety razor. For example, the razor hereinshown is of a well-knowncommercial type comprising a fluted handle 20 having a reduced neck anda head 2l provided W1th a pivotally mounted blade holder 22 in which isfrictionally retained a blade 23. The head includes a blade seat whichterminates in a guard 24, and is provided at each corner with a hookedlug 26. A finger piece 25 is provided for temporarily rocking thatportion of the head which carries the blade holder away from the bladeseat to rel-ease the blade from the hooked lugs 25 when it is desired toplace the razor in its receptacle. A razor of this general type isdisclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 352,388, filed August 13,1940,

The receptacle may be made of mouldable material, such as Bakelite or ofmetal, such as aluminum. It is rectangular in form and includes a lowerportion lil having side and end walls and a cover l! of similar shapehinged to the bottom portion at one end to swing about the axis of ahinge pin l2. is provided with an internal walled enclosure I3 which hastwo functions. defines areas in the bottom portion l0 for containing apair of blade magazines affording the user a convenient supply of freshblades. These magazines are not herein shown since they form no part ofthe present invention. In the second place, it comprises part of themeans for holding the safety razor securely in a stationary position. Tothis end the longitudinal walls of the enclosure i3 are spaced to engagethe handle of the razor while its end walls M and I5 are provided withconcave sockets shaped to fit transversely upon the body of the handleand upon the neck of the handle just below the razor head.

At its hinged end the side walls of the bottom portion l0 are thickenedinwardly to form shoulders and in these thickened side walls areprovided bearings for a transverse shaft i8 carrying a lower stroppingroll Il which consists of a rubber composition impregnated with anabrasive material. One end of the shaft I3 as shown in Fig. 5 is forkedand provided with a pivotally connected crank arm and handle i9. Whenthis crank arm is in operative position as shown in Fig. l it may beused to drive the stropping roll Il. When it is not in use it may beswung 180 so that it lies in a recess i6 in one side wall of the portionlil while its handle I9 enters the cover through an aperture 3| providedtherein for that purpose.

The cover H, as already stated, corresponds in shape and dimensions tothe bottom portion l0 and is provided within its hinged end withjournals for a shaft carrying the upper stropping roll 21. When thecover is closed these two stropping rolls I'I and 2 are locatedvertically one above the other, engaging each other directly in aflattened contact ar-ea and partially enclosing between them the sharpedge of the razor blade 23. When the lower roll is driven by turning thehandle I9 of the crank the upper roll is driven therefrom by frictionalcontact.

The cover ll carries internally a casing '32 of spring sheet metal whichis fast to the forward end wall of the cover and encloses the upperstropping roll 1 on three sides, leaving its lower side free andunobstructed for contact with the lower stropping roll. The casing 32has the additional function of a hold-down and to that end is providedwith a straight edge arranged to bear upon the blade 23 along a linejust in advance of the edge of the blade holder 22. When the cover Il isshut the spring member 32 is brought into position to press the lowerface of the blade edge against the surface of the lower stropping rollThebottom portion lil In the first place, it

fifi

Il thus insuring effective strapping action when the roll is rotated.

The shaft I8 is provided at each end of the lower roll Il with a cam 33reduced in diameter throughout 180 of its circumference and shapedthroughout the remaining 180 of its circumference to engage the twocorners of the blade 23 and swing the blade in its holder upwardlyagainst the yielding pressure of the hold-down member 32 and intostropping engagement with the face of the upper stropping roll 2l. Thecams 33 act upon the blade in the same corner areas where the lugs 25engage the blade in the razor. As the crank I9 is turned, therefore, thelower edge of the blad-e is stropped against the lower roll I1 duringone-half its revolution and is then raised by the cams 33 and stroppedupon its upper face against the upper roll 21 during the other half ofits revolution. The cams 33 operate to lift the blade 23 against theyielding pressure of the spring hold-down 32, and, when permitted to doso by the cams 33, the hold-down swings the blade downwardly intoengagement with the lower roll. The provision of blade presenting cams,such as the cams 33, insures effective stropping action withoutrequiring such precise location of the blade-edge as is required instropping both edges of the blade simultaneously without verticaladjustment between the two stropping rolls.

The cover l! is provided also with a deep ransverse flange 2S and ashallow transverse flange 29, the former being arranged to engage thehandle 26 of the razor adjacent to the socket in the wall it! and thelatter being arranged to engage the guard 2Q in the razor head. Thesetwo flanges accordingly act as hold-down members and co-operate with thesockets of the lower portion i6 in holding the whole razor securely in istationary position. At their free ends the bottom portion Hl and coverl of the receptacle are provided with co-operating catch membersarranged to engage automatically and to be released by pressure upon abutton 3G connected to the lower catch member and extending outwardlythrough complementary recesses in the end walls of the lower portion andcover. Accordingly, when the cover is closed it is latched in closedcondition with the razor held under appreciable pressure and theseconditions continue until the latch is released by pressure upon thebutton 3D.

The blade carrier 22 is free to swing about its transverse axis when theblade is not locked to the blade seat by engaging with the hooked lugs23 of the head. Accordingly, when the blade is released. and the razorplaced in the receptacle the under edge of the blade rests on the lowerstropp-ing roll il. Then, when the cover is closed, the upper edge ofthe blade is located beneath the upper stropping roll 21 and the bladeis thereby maintained in strapping position between them. The inner wallof the end compartment containing the lower roll I'! is shaped to guidethe blade 23 or limit its movement so that it cannot dig into or cut theroll il' but merely lies flat upon surface. The razor itself is heldagainst shifting by the longitudinal walls of the enclosure I3 and bythe sockets in the walls i4 and I5 into which it is pressed by theflanges 2G and 2S of the cover. It will be noted that this is soregardless of whether the blade occupies the position shown in Fig. 2 orwhether it is positioned on its blade seat and the razor closed.

Having thus disclosed my invention I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A receptacle for a safety razor having a pivotally mounted bladeholder, the receptacle having a lower enclosure member in which isjournaled a stropping roll located beneath the edge of a Vblade in theholder, a cam movable with the roll intermittently to lift the blade, acover in which is journaled an upper stropping roll, and a spring guardfor said upper roll constructed and arranged to engage the blade andmove it in opposition to said cam.

2. A receptacle for a safety razor having -a JOSEPH MUROS.

